I came joint 2nd in the Canon Iconic image competition, with the photo, Pushed aside.

Pushed Aside was taken as I went in behind the riot police at the G8 riots in London. I had slipped in-between the riot police as they made their way down to the main headquarters of the protestors, I followed the Police through, exiting out straight out the other side of the protest and getting photos from the other side of the protest.

I have been awarded Licentiate of The Royal Photographic Society for the overall standard and broad range of my work. In my submission I covered Documentary, Portrait, music and event photography.

Rupert is well travelled with a broad education in Print, Graphic Design and Photography, working out of Hong Kong and Australia for 2 and 8 years respectively. Since childhood, he has been totally passionate about photography. Through combined studies, he has broadened his skill base and gained experience by working for such companies as Disney, Arco Chemical, Keybank [formally Keycorp] and Apple. Alongside, he ran his own company and platform for new artists more recently design services and Photography.

Rupert submitted 10 Images which showed a cross range of my skills from shooting documentary work, through to live performance, each with its own challenge weather it be timing, proximity to the subjects, getting the shot in challenging situations or just telling a story.

Over the past 3 years rupert has faced challenges after having his neck broken, resulting in him being registered disabled, by a gang member who was later convicted, while working on a project showing how the Haygate estate in London, which is being redeveloped was changing showing the decay of the buildings as residents were moved out.

Rupert is a Royal Photographic Society Licentiate, [LRPS] and National Union of Journalists (NUJ) accredited Photographer, trained in Print Design with an MA in Graphic Design; both disciplines being close to his passion for photography. Between 1995 – 1997, Rupert was working for Disney and Arco Chemical where he was a freelance designer. One assignment for the Discovery Channel, involved closing off part of Sydney Harbour Bridge while he filmed the crossing of a horse drawn carriage.

Upon his return to London in 2007, he took up work as a ‘Creative’ with Apple. He also photographed gigs with Caffy St Luce of Rocklands and Heather Minx Ferguson of Minx Media TV. They look after many young, talented, up-and-coming musicians. Nowadays, he covers ‘This Feeling’. His photo of Shaun Ryder, formerly of the ‘Happy Mondays’ and ‘Brother’ made the nationals. Among many other photographed acts, there are Mark Morris of The Bluetones, Jon Fratelli, Molly McQueen and ‘The View’ The Rifles. Photos are still available at ThisFeeling.co.uk and Naz Promotions.

Recently, Rupert has also covered local community events such as Brockley Max, Camden Crawl for Getty images, Joyzine, Lewisham People’s Day. Another challenging show was the prestigious CMJ Event at The Hit Factory for Gibson in their head quarters in New York City, USA. Whilst there, Rupert also covering various gigs and shoots for the publication ‘Music Live’. Currently, Work with 9PR is also inspirational and exciting.

CNN approached Rupert to contribute iReports – providing such pics as his photos of the Tour De France London Stage. He has been accepted by Getty images as a contributor, and has made it into the private collections of Adam Ant and other established artists. Publishing is an important aspect of his work; notably the Zine Publications: ‘PhotoZine’, ‘The Zine’ and ‘JoyZine’; covering the underground Music scene in London.

The Tour De France London Stage came 10 minutes from my home, so went out and took some photos which have been published on CNN’s iReport

CNN PRODUCER NOTE
Scores of fans lined the streets of Walthamstow, a northeast suburb of London, as Tour De France competitors raced through on Monday. This was the entry point into London, where racers advanced to Epping and then to central London. Freelance photographer Rupert Hitchcox says the experience was

Just after mid day there was a protest chanting “Welcome to Pig City” and “No Borders no prisons no capitalism” they headed down Regent street the police quickly confined them to the pavement then hurded them down a side street towards Carnaby Street. The Protestors made it to their head quarters, where they were held in by the police until the Riot squad turned up, well I saw two van loads arrive. They then proceeded to remove the protestors from the their head quarters in London’s west end.

The EDL ( English Defence League ), decided to capitalise on the death of Lee Rigby by hand of some muslims.

Lee Rigby had been beheaded purely because he was a soldier. The attackers were caught on camera and showed no remorse for their actions.

The English Defence League, decided they would hold a rally in support of Lee Rigby, but it was interesting they have very fascist views but talking to some of them, they were saying were just sick of this extremism, well if thats not hypocritical I don’t know what is.

Several of the English Defence League thought I was an under cover police officer, it took some doing to convince them otherwise but I just quietly slipped away as I could feel tensions rising, this was justified when I took the photo through the windows of the bus. Other photographers had some body armour with them, they stayed. Saying that Im sure it would have been o.k as there were so many police in full riot gear, but just did not trust the situation as reinforcements were coming in from side streets.

But by falling back a bit it, gave me the chance to get some shots that otherwise would have been missed, like the mother guiding her children to safety as things escalated, also catching the police set off towards the frontline on horseback to confront the growing ranks of protestors. I was very surprised to see the muslim family cross the police line, they just strolled on through I would have thought the police would have stopped them, talk about walking into a bear pit. I was surprised to see some of the police joking and laughing as they prepared for the protest, maybe it was just nerves I don’t know. As I headed back up towards Trafalgar square more protesters were coming out of side streets. The odd thing was the orchestral concert going on in Trafalgar Square.